Virus fallout - ex's business may close.

[simon43]

I've been aware of this possibility.  My ex (the intelligent one, not the mad one), informs me that customer bookings to stay at her small airport hotel have fallen off a cliff, in that she is usually about 60% full in low season, 100% full in high season.  But as from April, the number of customer bookings for all of that month is zero, nada, nothing.  The same for May and onwards...

 

Her business rents the land where the hotel buildings are situated.  (I built this hotel around 2012, and it's been a reliable business for her, although never the opportunity to retire rich).  She has a long lease of 20 years, but without customer income, she can't pay the land rental.  (She is not asking me to pay BTW - it's her business and she is realistic enough to face what might happen if there are no customers).

 

I'm sure her business will be among many to suffer under the current conditions, and I doubt that tourists will be returning to Phuket anytime soon.

 

[Antonymous]

Government will be doling out 5,000 baht a month (for next three months) to those who have been in employment and now have no income through redundancy, closures, etc - if they sign up today and are accepted in the scheme. Have your ex sign up for that at least.

 

Of course 5,000 baht isn't going to be nearly enough for those who have mortgages, rents and financing bills to pay.

 

Very hard to make any money doing anything new now. It is highly likely that crime is going to increase ere long. This is a greater danger than WuFlu itself IMHO.

[Denim]

The economic fallout from covis 19 is likely going to push the world into a recession and with Thailand so heavily involved with tourism there are going to be many casualties here that are either going to take a big hit or else go under completely.

 

Even when things start to improve this governments bad handling of the crises is going to leave a sour taste in a lot of peoples mouths for a long time.

[timendres]

There was a proposal to offer low interest loans to businesses in trouble. Especially those in the tourism industry. She should look into this.

 

[Farangwithaplan]

negotiate with the landlord. The business has been there since 2012. They know the viability. See what can be arranged.

 

[stuandjulie]

China is slowly opening up, the Thai's and their greed will welcome them back well before they should.

[cornishcarlos]

She could also look at different markets to see her through the coming low patch..

Rent room for 1000-1500/month to people that are in the area. She might at least cover the rent that way and help some others that might be struggling at the same time !!

As above, I'm sure the land owner would settle for a percentage of the full value just to make sure his property stays rented.

Although they might be happy if she bails and they can open the hotel up again themselves ??

We have dropped our shop rents to 1000/month for the next 3 months just to help our tenants and hope that they also stay..

[LivinginKata]

4 minutes ago, cornishcarlos said:

She could also look at different markets to see her through the coming low patch..

Rent room for 1000-1500/month to people that are in the area. She might at least cover the rent that way and help some others that might be struggling at the same time !!

As above, I'm sure the land owner would settle for a percentage of the full value just to make sure his property stays rented.

Although they might be happy if she bails and they can open the hotel up again themselves ??

We have dropped our shop rents to 1000/month for the next 3 months just to help our tenants and hope that they also stay..

 

We are not charging any rent for month April 2020 for all our long stay tenants. See how it goes May ?

[JHolmesJr]

This sounds crazy but she could even offer to rent it to the government to set up a hospital

inside if things turn ugly.

[scubascuba3]

Girls will be on the game ASAP corona passes until then only the reckless falang will partake

[Monomial]

Your ex has my sympathy. We are now in a similar situation. No income due to the effects of the virus, and no way to make our mortgage payment. We can probably cover April, but will not be able to pay in May. 5000 baht is a joke. Doesn't help at all. Not sure what to say, other than I believe the best thing would be to suspend all existing rents and mortgages interest free for 6 months. That would give businesses and the economy a chance to recover and rebuild. The investor class would suffer in this scenario, but those are the people most able to absorb the cost and least in need of support.

 

Somebody has to pay for this devastation. We need to decide as a society who it is going to be. Is it going to be the struggling small businesses and individuals, or the relatively wealthy investors?  I know which one should pay, and I know which one is going to pay, and sadly they are not the same.

 

Tell your ex that the rest of us will be joining her in the food lines...

 

[Monomial]

21 minutes ago, LivinginKata said:

 

We are not charging any rent for month April 2020 for all our long stay tenants. See how it goes May ?

 

You are a good man. Hope others will follow your lead. In particular, I hope the banks will suspend mortgage payments. So far, there is no indication they will.

[cmsally]

Many landlords in Chiang Mai not charging rent for the near future. There seems to be the consensus of "we're all in this together". Whether the banks and corporate investors go along with this, waits to be seen.

[bearpolar]

Humans have been retarded and wanting to protect the weakest link without regards to consequences for the past couple decades..

 

and now we all suffer for it.

 

No child left behind: applied to the world economy

[steven100]

17 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

Girls will be on the game ASAP corona passes until then only the reckless falang will partake

they can do house calls and bom bom all day

[Curt1591]

23 hours ago, Farangwithaplan said:

negotiate with the landlord. The business has been there since 2012. They know the viability. See what can be arranged.

 

My mother-in-law became unemployed after the business she managed, since before 1990, went out of business because the slow down. It relied heavily on Asian tourists. 

[steven100]

36 minutes ago, LivinginKata said:

 

We are not charging any rent for month April 2020 for all our long stay tenants. See how it goes May ?

I'm looking for a room from april 1  .....   preferably a penthouse 

thanks

[lopburi3]

27 minutes ago, JHolmesJr said:

This sounds crazy but she could even offer to rent it to the government to set up a hospital

inside if things turn ugly.

Not crazy at all but believe might be a market outside of government for those found Covid-19 positive (if testing increases there will be a lot not needing hospital but needing to isolate) - with most places shuning such people believe it might be viable.

[BritManToo]

34 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

Girls will be on the game ASAP corona passes until then only the reckless falang will partake

I believe I just read a story about a pool party in Chiang Rai.

There appeared to be 10 young Thai male customers (and 12 females) partaking of that Gentlemen's event.

[OneMoreFarang]

This hotel seems to exist since 2012. That's 8 years.

And now it seems there is not even enough reserves to survive 2 months without guests.

Is that normal?

 

I know lots of employees live from month to month and if the paycheck is late then have a problem. But they are employees, they don't run a business.

 

As far as I know business owners should be prepared to handle at least 3 bad months. They invested money and I am sure with 60% - 100% occupancy they should make good money. And now they struggle after one month?

Was the business never profitable or mismanaged or did the owner(s) just spend too much?

 

Sorry if this sounds hard. But I don't think we can expect from the government (taxpayers) to pay for struggling businesses after such a short time. 

[Airalee]

33 minutes ago, cmsally said:

Many landlords in Chiang Mai not charging rent for the near future. There seems to be the consensus of "we're all in this together". Whether the banks and corporate investors go along with this, waits to be seen.

My landlord in BKK doesn’t appear to have gotten the memo.  He has even lost 5/12 tenants inside of a month.  I told him that rents appear to be crashing and I may very well be the 6th...deposit be damned.  
 

No offer yet.

[simon43]

17 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

This hotel seems to exist since 2012. That's 8 years.

And now it seems there is not even enough reserves to survive 2 months without guests.

Is that normal?

 

I know lots of employees live from month to month and if the paycheck is late then have a problem. But they are employees, they don't run a business.

 

As far as I know business owners should be prepared to handle at least 3 bad months. They invested money and I am sure with 60% - 100% occupancy they should make good money. And now they struggle after one month?

Was the business never profitable or mismanaged or did the owner(s) just spend too much?

 

Sorry if this sounds hard. But I don't think we can expect from the government (taxpayers) to pay for struggling businesses after such a short time. 

My ex certainly expects nothing from the government - she is not into 'handouts'.  Although the business has always been profitable, she (like many others from Issan), has a moral obligation to help her family (in this case her mother), financially.  Yonks ago, her mother mortgaged her house/land to loan sharks to pay for a younger daughter's university education.  My ex is still paying the never-ending interest, and as you know with Thais, blood is thicker than water, so the advice from a farang is not heeded ????

 

Also, the hospitality sector has been on a decline for years, so annual profits have been declining for that period.  Where there used to be only 1 Phuket Airport hotel (my first hotel) listed on booking.com, now there are more than 100 establishments.....  I'm sure glad that I got out of the hospitality business ????

 

I've told her to negotiate with the landlady.  Nothing else I can do - it's not my business.  But if it all goes 'south', then I'll try to help (not financially) as a friend.

[Lacessit]

I am wondering if the 5000 baht/month will trickle down to all the population.

My regular ( legit ) massage lady is closed for a month, no income. The military golf course in Chiang Rai is now closed until the end of May. Some bureaucratic idiot behind a desk has decided social distancing on a golf course, of all places, is a problem. All the caddies are out of work, will they get 5000 baht/month to live on? I don't think so.

Meantime, uniformed Thais gather in a coffee shop every morning not far from me, which seems to have no problem staying open. It's all BS.

[Metapod]

1 hour ago, Monomial said:

We are now in a similar situation. No income due to the effects of the virus, and no way to make our mortgage payment. We can probably cover April, but will not be able to pay in May.

 

people like you deserve to go under if you haven't even got enough savings to cover your mortgage for more than 1 month. that is the height of stupidity and irresponsibility. 

 

 

[darrendsd]

2 minutes ago, simon43 said:

My ex certainly expects nothing from the government - she is not into 'handouts'.  Although the business has always been profitable, she (like many others from Issan), has a moral obligation to help her family (in this case her mother), financially.  Yonks ago, her mother mortgaged her house/land to loan sharks to pay for a younger daughter's university education.  My ex is still paying the never-ending interest, and as you know with Thais, blood is thicker than water, so the advice from a farang is not heeded ????

 

I've told her to negotiate with the landlady.  Nothing else I can do - it's not my business.  But if it all goes 'south', then I'll try to help (not financially) as a friend.

That's all you can do

 

Some people dont like handouts myself included however these are difficult times and businesses need to take care of themselves

 

Maybe ask your ex GF to negotiate with the Landlord with the arrangement for a 3 month deferral of the rent however that to be then paid back over 12 months - that way it is not a handout

 

Same with loans from the Government - these are loans not handouts

 

In situations like this we sometimes need to swallow our pride and ask for help -

there is no shame in this at all

[darrendsd]

1 minute ago, Metapod said:

people like you deserve to go under if you haven't even got enough savings to cover your mortgage for more than 1 month. that is the height of stupidity and irresponsibility. 

 

 

You really don't understand how Thai people live do you?

 

OP you will get idiotic comments like this - just ignore them

[Chalong circle]

14 minutes ago, simon43 said:

My ex certainly expects nothing from the government - she is not into 'handouts'.  Although the business has always been profitable, she (like many others from Issan), has a moral obligation to help her family (in this case her mother), financially.  Yonks ago, her mother mortgaged her house/land to loan sharks to pay for a younger daughter's university education.  My ex is still paying the never-ending interest, and as you know with Thais, blood is thicker than water, so the advice from a farang is not heeded ????

 

Also, the hospitality sector has been on a decline for years, so annual profits have been declining for that period.  Where there used to be only 1 Phuket Airport hotel (my first hotel) listed on booking.com, now there are more than 100 establishments.....  I'm sure glad that I got out of the hospitality business ????

 

I've told her to negotiate with the landlady.  Nothing else I can do - it's not my business.  But if it all goes 'south', then I'll try to help (not financially) as a friend.

 

[mike787]

start a Gofund.  Many TVF have some baht to pitch in...

[Lacessit]

14 minutes ago, Metapod said:

people like you deserve to go under if you haven't even got enough savings to cover your mortgage for more than 1 month. that is the height of stupidity and irresponsibility. 

 

 

Obviously, you were behind the door when empathy was being handed out. Anything useful to contribute to this thread, or are you just going to persist with judgmental?

[White Christmas13]

1 hour ago, Curt1591 said:

My mother-in-law became unemployed after the business she managed, since before 1990, went out of business because the slow down. It relied heavily on Asian tourists. 

Sorry about that